La Nova Wings -Ill

Pizza Shop Talk The Think Tank
1

Hi Guys,
I wasn’t in the shop tonight. I got a call from my manager saying that someone got sick from our wings last night. We use La Nova wings(pre cooked). They are saying that a few hours after eating the wings they were sick, people who ate just the pizza did not get sick. I have a really hard time believing that it was from our wings. We got those wings in on Tuesday, they were in the walk-in until they were cooked on Wednesday, we run them thru the ovens twice.

She took a message for me to call them back

What should I tell her?

2

Report this to your insurer immediately…Failure to report immediately may “prejudice” the insurer and they may be able to use that as grounds to not provide coverage…

3

I would also call your health department. They can be a big help in these cases.

4

I’m confused. Did more than one person get sick or only one person?

5

I would NOT call your insurance company. But I would log the events…just in case. Keep an order of the wings from the box (in your freezer, tightly sealed) for a couple of weeks just in case the health dept comes calling.

Expect a visit from the health dept so go around today and make sure everything is tip top.

I would apologize and be sure to tell them you sold other orders and no one was sick, also mention they come precooked and re cooked.

You may even want to call the health dept yourself if you are on good terms with them.

Over the years we have gotten a couple of these calls, nothing to worry about. Food poisoning takes more than a couple of hours to “hit” Just because our bodies doen’t agree with what we ate doesn’t mean it was food poison.

Relax.

Kris

6

Not necessarily true. Food poisoning can show symptoms in as little as 30 minutes or slowly get worse over days or weeks. It all depends on which pathogen is involved.
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/food_poisoning/page3_em.htm#Food%20Poisoning%20Symptoms

7

Kris you better read your insurance policy regarding reporting provisions…If this turns into a problem down the road, the liability insurance you thought you had would not be in effect…Any failure to comply with reporting provisions is all the insurer needs to deny your claim…Not because you may not be liable but because you prejudiced their opportunity to do an investigation in a timely manner…

PS…I am a councillor for the Village of Montrose and for the past 5 years I have served on the board of directors of the liability insurer that insures municipalities in British Columbia…Also, my formal education is Insurance Administration and I spent 11 years working as an insurance adjuster…So folks can decide whether my comments are valid or not…Far better to be safe than sorry…

8

I agree you need to call your insurance company asap, but crusher did not mention anything else besides a phone call. If the caller had went to the hospital, doctor I think he would have mentioned it.

I can’t be calling my inurance company everytime someone calls about a complaint. If it is serious enough the have have sought medical attention, absolutely I woud call my insurance company. If it was serious enough they called the health dept I would call my insurance company.

For now from the way I read it is there was a complaint…no mention of medical attention or wanting to seek medical attention.

Food poisioning is hard to pin point unless they seek medical attention and have their stomach pumped.

Kris

9

I have a couple thoughts to offer for brainstorming . . .

I have a relationship with health department where I think I would call the lead inspector. I would do a comprehensive investigation locally and document the purchase/received/served dates; copy of temperature logs for the cooler where stored; time of order and who prepared and served the food; statement of anyone else, or that no one else reported illness; as well as a brief interview with the people working who may have been in the chain of service to that customer. It would show responsibility, intent to find an answer, and give lots of information in the event someone really makes a big deal about it.

AS to the customer, I would offer sympathy that they got sick, assure the investigation would be done to see assure proper procedures are being followed, and offer a replacement or enticement to return. If you have a relationship with this customer, you could instead even call after your investigation to tell them you’ve contacted health department and gone over the whole process to be sure your place is safe . . . do not admit or insinuate responsibility for the illness. That is for courts and health department to determine.

On the other side is potential “quick” buggies . . .

Poor hygene and/or handwashing can possibly lead to a mild to moderate case of

Staphylococcus aureus: Causes moderate to severe illness with rapid onset of nausea, severe vomiting, dizziness, and abdominal cramping. These bacteria produce a toxin in foods such as cream-filled cakes and pies, salads (most at risk are potato, macaroni, egg, and tuna salads, for example) and dairy products. Contaminated salads at picnics are common if the food is not chilled properly.

Grimy hair wasn’t washed today, hand get touched to the hair a few times during the shift, touch the food and container when being packaged, it sits in the container for 20-30 minutes waiting to be be picked up, then 20 minutes before being consumed. It can happen.

No real way to prove it came from your place, either. It could have been from the grocery bags at the place they stopped for butter and eggs.

10

. . . oh! And contact your foodservice distributor. This could even have been a contamination at the processing place or something. If they have several complaints from other customers, they can track/report the trend.

11

If they phoned and said the food tasted bad that is far different than using “someone got sick” in the call…In the old days insurance companies were there to help you…These days they will do anything possible to deny a claim…And do not rely on what your agent says…If your insurer denies the claim, you will certainly be suing your agent somewhere down the line…If and when you report to your agent, cover your butt and make sure you do it in writing and can prove it…If they decide it is not worth passing along to the insurer it will be your agent that ends up paying…Good luck…

12

I had a similar instance a few weeks ago with a pizza (pepperoni, onions and green peppers). Ordered at 8.30pm. Mother called and spoke to my manager the following day “my son and his friend ate the pizza and were ill within an hour. They were up all night with violent sickness and diarrhoea. They still had some pizza slices left.” They never wanted to order from us again, wouldn’t take us to court but ‘only’ wanted their money back.

My manager called me and I then spoke to the customer. She was really aggressive and started off the conversation with the ‘no more orders, no legal action give me my money back’ stance then processed to repeat the above. I did the usual sympathise, explain about our food hygiene, our recent local rating etc. but when I started to ask questions some question she just said ‘Just give me my money back’.

I said that I wanted to investigate it as obviously it was a serious allegation and to be honest I didn’t believe that we could be the source of the problem. I asked for the slices to pizza back to send for testing only to find that the ‘dog had just eaten the toppings from them’, It carried on like that really - next she told me the doctor had been out in the morning and told them that it ‘definately’ was the pizza but of course when I asked what tests he did in order to know this she couldn’t answer. ‘You obviously don’t have kids’ she then told me. “He’s been really ill all day and all your bothered about is sending the pizza for testing”.

She then said there was no point in sending the pizza for testing as it would cost more than the refund she wanted. ‘So just give me a refund’.

When my driver turns up at the door - around 6.30pm the son is sat on the front door step eating an ice cream. ‘Mummy the pizza man is here’. Must have had a miraculous recovery.

I have however kept a detailed log of the incident, a separate set all of our cleaning/temperature checks from that week, copy of my recent inspection and similar documents all which Royster mentioned. The pizza slice when it arrived at the shop was not in a fit state to be sent for testing so we sent a incident questionnaire to the customer asking for full details - 2 weeks later nothing back!